Snap-seal.



E. J. BROOKS.

SNAP SEAL.

APPLIUATION FILED APR.23, 1912.

Q 1,030,458. Patented June 25, 1912.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD J. BROOKS, OF EAST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY.

SNAP-SEAL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 25, 1912.

Application filed April 23, 1912. Serial No. 692,617.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD J. BRooKs, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of East Orange, in the State of New Jersey, have invented a new and .useful Improvement in Snap-Seals, of

doors of railway freight cars and for other like purposes. Examples of such snap seals are set forth in my previous specifications forming part of United States Letters Patent No. 696,002, dated March 25, 1902, and an application filed'March 16, 1912, Serial No. 684,147, (patented May 28, 1912) and previous Letters Patent therein referred to. j

The present invention is more particularly additional to the bulb-type snap seals set forth in the two previous specifications first mentioned; relating especially to snap seals in which a bulb-shaped seal part is composed of two bulb members united by a circumferential joint as shown at Figures 12, 16 and 20 in the drawings accompanying the earlier of said specifications, and to catchengaging center pieces for such seal parts and to shackles adapted to interlock therewith, embodying the principles of construction set forth in the later of said specifications.

The present invention consists in an improved snap seal of saidbulb type, and certain novel combinations of parts embodied therein, as hereinafter particularly described and claimed.

The leading objects of this invention are to more securely guard the snap-catch members of the seal against being tampered with, and to facilitate inserting and fastening in place the improved catch-engaging center piece.

Other objects will be set forth in the general description which follows.

A sheet of drawings accompanies this specification as part thereof.

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the flat blank from which the. double center piece hereinafter described is made; Figs. 2 and 3 are respectively plan and edge views of said blank, folded; Fig. 4C is a bottom view of Figs. 7 and 8 are respectively face and edge views of the improved shackle; Fig. 9 is an elevation of the improved seal as it leaves the factory; Fig. 10 is a small-scale view of the snap-fastened seal applied to a pair of car-door staples; Fig. 11 represents a longitudinal section through the seal part and shackle ends of the fastened seal; Fig. 12 is a sectional view on the same scale as Fig. 11 of a second species of the seal part and shackle ends of the improved seal showing its single center piece in elevation; Figs. 13 and 14 are bottom views of the upper bulb pieces of the seal parts of the two species respectively, detached.

Like .reference characters refer to like parts in all the figures.

The improved snap seal, in either of its species, is composed of a bulb-shaped seal part, a or (L and a flexible shackle b; the former containing as its catch member a catch-engaging center piece 0 or 0 adapted to interlock with both ends of the shackle. The seal part a or (11?, excepting the center piece, and the shackle b are intended and adapted to be made of suitable tin (tin plate) sufficiently thin and sufiiciently resilient for the snap catches, the latter only having to be sprung once. The center piece 0 or c is preferably made of taggers tin so as to be as thin as practicable and of the required stiffness.

Each of the seal parts a and a is composed of bulb pieces, 1 or 1 and 2, permanently united after the insertion of the cen: ter piece by a circumferential joint 3, and the upper bulb piece is provided with an inlet hole 4 or 4: fitted to the two shackle ends with their inlet guards as hereinafter described, and with means for alining the cen ter piece with said inlet hole.

The shackle b which is or may be common to both species, has at each tapered end a pair of normally flat snap catches 5 and 6, with notches in their outer edges and separated by a central longitudinal slit, 7, and immediately above the latter a T-shaped embossed inlet guard, 8. The respective ends, between the inlet guards and the middle, are conveniently provided with the customary distinguishing marks or lettering inc RR. and 74:17 in Figs. 7 and 9.

The center piece 0 or c is made by folding a flat blank or planchet, illustrated by Fig. 1, and then bending the corners of the depending and slotted catch portions 9 or catch portion 9 so as to adapt these catch members of the seal part to engage and interlock with the normally fiat catches 6 and 7 of each shackle end, as set forth in the later of said previous specifications hereinbefore referred to. Each of said catch portions 9,9, is further adapted to cooperate with a pair of inwardly projecting guide ribs 10 indented in opposite sides of the upper bulb piece 1 or 1, and arranged with reference to.

the inlet hole 4 or 4 as shown in Figs. 13 and 14; and each catch port-ion, in common with the corresponding inlet hole, is provided with a central notch 11 fitted to the stem of the corresponding inlet guard S, which enables the pair of inlet guards to penetrate into said catch portions of the center pieces, as shown in Figs. 11 and 12, and to support the same against being contracted and thus loosened in attempts to unfasten the seal.

Each catch portion 9 or 9 is substantially U-shaped with its slot at bottom, and is open at top and at the edges of the center piece. The center piece 0 or 0 is inserted into the upper bulb piece 1 or 1 so that said guide ribs 10 enter the catch portions or catch port-ion, and is pressed home within the same. The lower bulb piece 2 is then applied and the seam 3 is formed, which contracts the upper bulb piece sufliciently to tighten the center piece in working position. One end of the shackle b is then inserted into the seal part a or a and snap fastened, as represented by Fig. 9; and ultimately the other shackle end is passed through a pair of car-door staples (Z, c, or the like and snapfastened, as illustrated by Figs. 10, 11 and 12.

In the species represented by Figs. 1 to 6 inclusive, in connection with Figs. 10, 11 and 13 the double centerpiece c has a distinct slotted catch portion 9 to interlock with the two catches 5 and 6 of each end of the shackle b; and securely fastening each shackle end is thus insured. The middle bend of the center piece which forms the inner wall of each catch portion is conveniently extended so as to projectupward through the inlet hole 4 and forms a protruding rigid tongue, 12, which serves as a guide in inserting the first shackle end of the shackle 6 into the appropriate catch portion of the double center piece 0 in assembling the parts, and also facilitates inspecting the seal parts.

In the second species, illustrated by Figs. 12 and 14, both ends of the shackle b are inserted through the inlet hole 4 into one and the same catch portion 9 of the single center piece 0 within the seal part 01?. Otherwise the construction and mode of operation are the same as in the first species, as already set forth.

The crown flange of the interlocking rims by which the circumferential joints 3 of the seal part a and a are formed, may be integral either with the lower or the upper bulb piece as shown respectively at 13 and 14; and other like modifications will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art.

Having thus described said improvement, 1 claim as my invention and desire to patent under this specification.

1. An improved sheet-metal. snap seal having, in combination, a bulb-shaped seal part constructed with two bulb pieces united by a circumferentialjoint, and with an inlet hole in its top and alining means in its sides, a flexible shackle having each end.

provided with a pair of normally flat resilient snap catches separated by a central longitudinal slit and a T-shaped embossed inlet guard the stem of which adjoins said slit, and a slotted catch-engaging center piece within said seal part adapted to be guided. into place by said alining means and to interlock with said snap catches of the shackle, said top of the seal part and said center piece being provided with notches adapted to admit said stems of said inlet guards.

2. The combination, in a snap seal, of a bulb-shaped seal part provided with an inlet hole, a flexible shackle having both ends provided with resilient snap catches, and a double center piece-within said seal part having a pair of depending catch portions the bot-tom of each being slotted and adapted to interlock with said snap catches of the shackle and a rigid tongue protruding through said inlet hole and forming a guide adapted to facilitate inserting one of the shackle ends into the appropriate catch portion.

3. The combination, in a snap seal, of a bulb-shaped seal part provided with an inlet hole, a flexible shackle having both ends provided with resilient snap catches, and a double center piece within said seal part having a pair of depending catch portions the bottom of each being provided with a slot and bent so as to deflect the ends of said slot from the plane of its middle portion; said snap catches of the shackle being normally flat and adapted to be temporarily deflected in passing through said slots and to interlock with the slotted bottoms of said catch portions.

4. The combination, in a snap seal, of a bulb-shaped seal part of sheet metal composed of upper and lower bulb pieces united by a circumferential joint, said upper bulbpiece being constructed with'an inlet hole in its top and with indented guide ribs in itssides alined with said inlet hole, a flexible shackle both ends of which are provided with snap catches, and a center piece within said seal part adapted to interlock with both shackle ends and constructed with depending U-shaped catch portions open at the top and at the edges of said center piece and fitted to said guide ribs as means for alining said catch portions with said inlet hole.

5. The combination, in a snap seal, of a bulb-shaped seal part of sheet-metal composed of upper and lower bulb pieces united by a circumferential joint, said upper bulb piece being constructed with an inlet hole in its top,- a flexible shackle having both ends provided with snap catches and with T-shaped inlet guards, and a slotted catchengaging center piece within said seal-part formed by folding a flat sheet-metal blank and adapted to interlock with both shackle ends; said top of the seal part and said center piece being provided with notches adapted to admit the stems of said inlet guards,

as means for preventing the displacement of said center piece.

6. The combination, in a snap seal, of a bulb-shaped seal part of sheet-metal composed of upper and lower bulb pieces united by a circumferential joint, said upper bulb piece being constructed with an inlet hole in its top, a flexible shackle having both ends provided with snap catches and with T-shaped inlet guards, and a center piece formed by folding a flat sheet-metal blank and having a pair of depending U-shaped catch portions adapted to interlock with the snap catches on the respective shackle ends; said top of the seal part and said center piece being provided with notches adapted to admit the stems of said inlet guards, substantially as hereinbefore specified.

EDWARD J BROOKS.

Witnesses H. WV. CREAMER, GEO. O. ToT'rEN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

